Purpose: The Most Important Ingredient for Elevated Leadership

Here is what I have learned through my research and consulting: 7% of leaders are ineffective leaders who do a better job of keeping the peace than having an impact 85% of leaders are moderate to good leaders who are focused primarily on accomplishing specific goals or results Only 8% of leaders are great leaders […]
How I Help: Human Resources or L&D Teams

Building on my focus of helping leaders and employees become better, vertically develop, and elevate their mindsets, I can help organizations in a variety of ways. In this article, want to share how I commonly work with Human Resource (HR) or Learning and Development (L&D) teams. Types of HR & L&D Teams that I Work […]
Identifying and Dealing with Toxic Leaders

In my experience working with organizations, I have seen my fair share of toxic leaders. And, I commonly get asked these questions by HR personnel and employees in the organization: What can be done to proactively identify, prevent, and/or deal with toxic leaders (such as narcissists and bullies) who ascend and are kept on because […]
A Measure of Your BEING Side: Your Relationship with Feedback

We have two sides to ourselves: Our DOING Side: Our knowledge, skills, talents and abilities Our BEING Side: Our character, mindsets, and psyche For most people and leaders: We are more advanced on our DOING Side than our BEING Side Almost all development efforts (across education, athletics, and organizational development) focus on the DOING Side […]
How to Help a Lower-Functioning Leader Become a Higher-Functioning Leader

It’s a fact, some leaders operate at a higher level than other leaders. From my experience as a leadership scholar and consultant, I have found that we can evaluate leaders along following continuums to be able to distinguish the degree to which they are lower-functioning or higher-functioning: Lower-Functioning Leaders Higher-Functioning Leaders Possess a low degree […]
Most Common Executive Struggles – Part 3

Research on vertical development has found that people can operate with different internal operating systems that vary in their cognitive and emotional sophistication.
Discussing Vertical Development with Alan Mulally

Over the last week, I was fortunate to spend over two hours across two phone calls with Alan Mulally, the former CEO at Boeing and Ford, and someone that Fortune identified as being #3 on the list of World’s Greatest Leaders. The focus of our conversation was about the importance of helping leaders vertically develop. […]
The Five Best Non-Fiction Business/Self-Help Books I Read in 2021

I have always loved reading because I have felt it make me a better person. Books make me a better person because they broaden my horizon, deepen my insights, and expose me to perspectives that are different from my own. In fact, as I have been writing a book on vertical development and helping organizations […]
Vertical Development Example #3: Microsoft CEOs

Have you ever wondered what sets apart great leaders from good leaders (or worse)? What we are learning is that the difference between great leaders and no-so-great leaders is how vertically developed they are. Or, stated differently, how cognitively and emotionally sophisticated they are. Many people do not yet know the concepts of “vertical development” […]
Vertical Development Example #2: Two Leaders of Musicians

Have you ever wondered what sets apart great people from not-so-great people? What developmental psychologists have found is that the difference between great people (people we admire) and no-so-great people (people we don’t necessarily admire) is how vertically developed they are. This is another way of assessing how cognitively and emotionally sophisticated they are. Unfortunately, […]